Featured Speakers
of the 2026
Third Line Summit
Our panelists and moderators represent a diverse group of leaders across science, medicine, policy, business, media, and culture, united by a shared commitment to exploring the forces shaping our health and turning conversation into meaningful action.
Featured Speakers of the 2026 The Third Line Summit
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Featured Speakers of the 2026 The Third Line Summit —
Kristin Rae Cecchi
Host
Founder & CEO of The Third Line Project
Kristin Rae Cecchi is a philanthropist, brain health advocate, City Tavern co-owner, and founder of the Ascension Mind-Body Summit. Personally affected by dementia within her own family, she is a dedicated advocate for brain health and serves on the Board of Overseers for the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF).
Through Ascension and The Third Line, Kristin curates transformative experiences that bring together colleagues, friends, change-makers, and leaders across science, innovation, and wellness—cutting through the noise to explore what it truly means to create lasting health of mind, body, and spirit.
Dr. Rafid Fadul is the inaugural Chief Medical Officer of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), where he helps advance ambitious healthcare innovations with the potential to transform how disease is prevented, diagnosed, and treated.
A physician, entrepreneur, and healthcare technology leader, Dr. Fadul brings experience spanning clinical medicine, therapeutics, medical devices, and digital health. Prior to joining ARPA-H in 2026, he co-founded and led Zivian Health, developing healthcare software platforms designed to support providers across regulatory compliance, clinical workflows, and data interoperability.
Dr. Fadul is board-certified in internal medicine, pulmonary disease, and critical care medicine. He earned his M.D. from The George Washington University and his MBA from Johns Hopkins University.
Dr. Rafid Fadul
Featured Speaker
Deputy Director & Chief Medical Officer of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H)
Anousheh Ansari
Featured Speaker
CEO | XPRIZE
Anousheh Ansari is a visionary entrepreneur, global technology leader, and CEO of XPRIZE, where she leads efforts to accelerate breakthrough solutions to some of humanity’s greatest challenges across health, climate, technology, and beyond. A serial entrepreneur and passionate advocate for innovation, Ansari made history in 2006 as the first female private space explorer and the first astronaut of Iranian descent. She and her family were also title sponsors of the landmark Ansari XPRIZE, which helped catalyze a new era of commercial spaceflight. Throughout her career, Ansari has championed bold ideas, entrepreneurship, and the power of technology and human ingenuity to create a healthier, more abundant future.
Johanna Hellrigl
Featured Speaker
Chef-Owner of Ama Restaurant; Environmental Working Group (EWG) Board Member, and Culinary Director of The Third Line Luncheon
Johanna Hellrigl is a chef, restaurateur, and food-systems advocate working at the intersection of food, health, sustainability, and hospitality. She is the chef-owner of Ama, an award-winning Northern Italian restaurant in Washington, D.C., and Culinary Director of the Eudēmonia Summit.
A 2026 James Beard Foundation Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic semifinalist, Hellrigl is also a Board Member of the Environmental Working Group and works with organizations including World Central Kitchen, Eat Real Certified, and the Plastic Pollution Coalition. Her advocacy explores how sourcing, agriculture, environmental health, and the materials that touch our food impact human health. Through her restaurants, consulting, and public advocacy, she is helping reimagine hospitality as a catalyst for a healthier, more sustainable food system.
Oliver English is a filmmaker, chef, entrepreneur, and food-systems advocate working at the intersection of storytelling, agriculture, nutrition, and sustainability. He is CEO and Co-Founder of Common Table Creative, an impact-driven production and hospitality company focused on reshaping how we understand food and the people behind it.
English co-directed and produced Feeding Tomorrow, an award-winning documentary exploring the farmers, scientists, and innovators transforming the future of food and agriculture. A graduate of Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration, he has worked alongside leading chefs and hospitality organizations around the world and has visited more than 100 farms to better understand the global food system. A TEDx speaker and frequent voice at global food and climate forums, English uses storytelling to connect agriculture, human health, climate resilience, and the future of food.
Oliver English
Featured Speaker
Documentary Filmmaker; Chef; CEO and Co-Founder of Common Table Creative
Dr. Norman J. Beauchamp Jr., MD, MHS
Featured Speaker
EVP of Health Sciences and Executive Dean of the School of Medicine at Georgetown University
Executive Vice President for Health Sciences and Executive Dean of the School of Medicine at Georgetown University Medical Center, where he leads the institution’s education and research missions and its academic partnership with MedStar Health. A tenured professor of neurology and radiology, he is a leading physician-scientist specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of stroke. His research, published in more than 100 peer-reviewed papers, has focused on advancing stroke prevention, diagnosis and care. Before joining Georgetown, he held senior leadership roles at Michigan State University, the University of Washington and Johns Hopkins University.
Dr. Beth McQuiston, MD, RD, is a neuroscientist, physician, registered dietitian, and internationally recognized expert in traumatic brain injury and neurological biomarkers. During nearly two decades at Abbott Diagnostics, she helped advance blood-based technologies for brain injury and neurological disease and is a named inventor on more than 75 patent applications and granted patents. Her work has included U.S. Department of Defense research collaborations, including with U.S. Special Forces, and in 2024 she received the Military Health System Research Symposium Outstanding Research Accomplishment Award for her work on a field-deployable traumatic brain injury analyzer. She has also served with the National Academies Forum on Traumatic Brain Injury and has been featured as an expert in TIME, Forbes, Scientific American, Men’s Health, and Women’s Health.
Dr. Beth McQuiston, MD, RD
Featured Speaker
Neuroscientist, Physician, Dietitian & Brain Injury Expert
Chris Hoyt
Featured Speaker
CEO | KeifeRx
Chris Hoyt is an entrepreneur, investor, and biotechnology leader serving as CEO of KeifeRx, a clinical-stage company developing potential treatments for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Lewy body dementia. Building on research from Georgetown University, KeifeRx is exploring innovative approaches to restoring the brain’s natural ability to clear toxic proteins and address multiple drivers of neurodegenerative disease.
Hoyt has founded four companies, served as a venture partner at Moonshots Capital, and raised more than $400 million in financing. He brings a unique perspective on the intersection of neuroscience, investment, and medical innovation, offering insights into emerging therapies, the connections underlying brain health, and what it takes to translate promising science into treatments that could change lives.
Dr. Al Bugazia serves as Deputy Director of Proactive Health at the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), where he helps advance innovative approaches to disease prevention, brain health, and emerging therapeutics.
An internal medicine and critical care-trained physician with more than a decade of clinical and academic experience, he completed his critical care fellowship at Cleveland Clinic, where he served as Chief Fellow, and held clinical and teaching roles at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine.
His work has evolved from treating critical illness to exploring precision health, longevity, neuroscience, and next-generation treatments for neurological and mental health conditions. He brings a whole-person perspective to the intersection of physical, mental, and philosophical well-being.
Dr. Al Bugazia
Featured Speaker
Deputy Director, Proactive Health | ARPA-H
Dr. Robynne Chutkan is a board certified gastroenterologist, the author of 4 digestive health books - Gutbliss, The Microbiome Solution, The Bloat Cure, The Anti-Viral Gut - and the host of The Gutbliss Podcast. Educated at Yale (B.S.) and Columbia (M.D.), she’s a faculty member at Georgetown Hospital and the founder of the Digestive Center for Wellness in Washington DC.
Dr Chutkan served on the Governing Board of the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE), chaired the ASGE Training Committee and Public Relations Committee, and was a member of the Standards of Practice Committee. She has authored dozens of scientific articles and spoken globally on the role of the microbiome in health and disease at venues like the World Government Summit in Dubai, and the Milken Global Conference in Los Angeles.
She has a PBS Special entitled “Gutbliss” and has been a featured expert in media outlets including The Today Show, CBS This Morning, The Doctors, the New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic and others. She’s an avid (and slow) distance runner, a squash player, and a yogi, and is passionate about introducing more dirt, sweat and vegetables into people’s lives.
Dr. Robynne Chutkan, MD, FASGE
Featured Speaker
Gastroenterologist; Assistant Professor Georgetown Hospital Founder, Digestive Center for Wellness
Sia is a biotech entrepreneur and business development leader with over 20 years of experience across pharma, venture capital, alliance management, business and corporate development, including over 10 years in a company working on RNA and DNA.
She co-founded and operated a venture capital studio focused on accelerating early-stage biotech companies developing gene therapies and immunotherapies for complex medical illnesses. The studio and its affiliates raised more than $30M to seed its portfolio companies. Sia has built and executed go-to-market strategies for biotech.
Her experience spans convening, strategy, company building, startup formation, and partnership development, all of which she now brings to The Third Line Project help bridge science with business and real-world application.
Dr. Supriya Rao is a quadruple board-certified physician specializing in gastroenterology, internal medicine, obesity medicine, and lifestyle medicine. A graduate of MIT and Duke University School of Medicine, she is managing partner at Integrated Gastroenterology Consultants.
Her work explores the intersection of gut health, the microbiome, nutrition, and metabolic wellness, offering an evidence-based perspective on how lifestyle interventions can help shape the future of preventive medicine and healthy aging.
Dr. Supriya Rao, MD, DABOM, DABLM
Featured Speaker
Gastroenterologist | Managing Partner, Integrated Gastroenterology Consultants
Sia Anagnostou
Featured Speaker
Head Programming and Strategic Partnerships | The Third Line Project